WVU Baseball scrapes past Lipscomb 5-4 in Game One of series

WVU Baseball was able to squeeze out a victory on Saturday as they bested t the Lipscomb Bison by a final score of 5-4. WVU was able to claim Game One in the four-game set.

WVU recorded five runs on 14 hits with zero runs, while Lipscomb recorded four runs on 11 hits and two errors.

Some timely hitting and great bullpen performances propelled the Mountaineers to their fourth win in the young season. WVU got a two-out RBI single from Armani Guzman, and Jace Rinehart laid down a great sacrifice squeeze bunt to score Brodie Kresser in the top of the eight to extend the lead to 5-3. Reese Bassinger collected his third save in the first four games this season.

WVU stole game one in the series with their 14 hits and timely hitting. Good efforts out of the pen supported the pitching staff. The offense was able to put a lot of runners on base and found different ways to score them. In the top of the fourth, Guzman was able to get a two-out single to score Kresser to even the score at two apiece. Alex Marot got an infield single to score a run in the top of the fifth to score Logan Sauve to take a 3-2 lead at that time.

Jace Rinehart, quickly earning the nickname 'Rhino' from his teammates, reached on a squeeze bunt play that scored Kresser in the top of eight, making the score 5-3. That insurance run was huge as the Bison were able to put up one run on a home run in the bottom of the eighth, but fell short to a final score of 5-4.

The Mountaineer pitching staff gave up all four runs to the long ball on Saturday. Lipscomb homered off WVU pitchers three times scoring their four runs. Starting on the hill was Griffin Kirn for the Mountaineers. Kirn struggled and did not get as deep into the game as he would’ve liked. Kirn went four innings pitched while giving up five hits, three earned runs, and three walks while only adding one strikeout. The former Division 2 superstar, Kirn gave up two home runs in his five hits allowed.

Coming into the game in relief, Jack Kartsonas went 2.1 innings pitched with a final line of three hits, zero earned runs, zero walks, and three strikeouts. Kartsonas will be a very important piece to this Mountaineer bullpen that is needed to perform for team success.

Bassinger, who picked up his third save already in four games, recorded a final line of two innings pitched, three hits, one earned run, zero walks, and zero strikeouts. In addition to Kartsonas, Bassinger is vital to the success of the bullpen for WVU’s success this season.

Notable hitters for the Mountaineers in game one include Kresser (2-4, 2Rs), Sauve (2-4, R, BB, SB), and Marot (2-4, RBI). Also having a good game was slugging star Skylar King, who is having a great season so far.

According to the WVU Baseball Analytics X account, Mountaineer Kyle West hit a ball with a 114 mph exit velocity in Game One. The account is run by WVU Baseball managers.

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